(Hrvatski dolje) Every year, thousands of people come from other European countries to Croatia's beautiful coast for holidays by train or use the train to visit their relatives and friends. But as of December this year, cross-border train travel to and from Croatia is about to get a whole lot more difficult: Croatian Railways has announced http://www.hznet.hr/medunarodni-prijevozthat it is to cut 44 out of 56 daily international services (update - now 32, see below), and even two of the remaining ones would run in summer only.

Rail is the most environmentally acceptable mode of long-distance transport, with relatively low pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In Europe many people also consider it a pleasant and comfortable way to travel. It is therefore not surprising that the European Union – which Croatia is joining next year – has a transport policy stipulating that by 2050 most medium-distance passenger travel should be by rail. It is ironic that, at a time when Croatia is joining the EU, its rail policy is going in the other direction.

This makes rail travel drastically more inconvenient. It also makes ordinary people pay for mistakes that have been made by Croatian Railways and the Croatian government. For years the Croatian government has put many more resources into motorway construction than into investing in rail, and the result is that many people use cars on routes where they could go by train. Likewise Croatian Railways has for too long avoided making improvements in service and efficiency, and has failed to sufficiently advertise its services.

Join us in calling on Croatian Railways and the Croatian Government to reconsider their decision to cut cross-border rail services. And don't forget to add a comment: Do you come to Croatia by rail on holiday? Or have you been planning to? Do you regularly visit friends and relatives in neighbouring countries by train? Are you maybe a cyclist who likes to travel some of the route by rail and for whom buses are not a viable alternative?